With the questions from last weeks blog in mind, my husband and I set out to "Church Visit." We are not simply on holiday, enjoying worship in a vacation location; we are actively seeking a home church for the part of the year that we live in America. Our homebase church, Frensham Baptist Fellowhip (which is made up of all sorts of former Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics and a sprinkling of Brethren and Baptists) is back in England and we feel they are family. This new church would be our "cousins;" family indeed, but it might take time to feel as sisters and brothers.
Church Visits is not "Church Hopping." Church hopping for those of you who have not grown up in this lifestyle of Christian Living, is when you just want to visit a church for an extended stay until someone upsets you and then you leave! You might like the worship but Sunday after Sunday disagree with the sermon; for example, so you hop around town and never truly settle anywhere.
So, with knowing that we were going on an intentional visit to check out a church and knowing that we did not want to spend a year hopping around town; we asked Father God to bring three churches to mind....kind of a short list of potential church home away from home. Graciously Our Father quickly came up with three.
We continued to pray that Father God would reveal to us just where He wanted us to be. As they say, as soon as you walk in the perfect church is no longer perfect; so we weren't looking for the perfect music or the perfect sermon, but where we knew the peace of the Holy Spirit.
"Father God, where do you want us to be?" was the only real question. In my book, "Parents on the Move," I look at selecting a church when you are in the Young Family Stage of life, and your needs are greater than yourself. Sunday School, youth groups and parenting support may be high on your criteria; for now, at the Sage Stage....where would the Lord lead?
Question: If you have relocated nationally or internationally, what have you looked for in a new church?
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